Hero
Director: Masayuki Suzuki
Drama, Japan, 2007
Cast: Takuya Kimura, Takako Matsu, Hiroshi Abe, Haruka Ayase, Takuzo Kadono, Teruyuki Kagawa, Masanobu Katsumura, Ittoku Kishibe, Kiyoshi Kodama
Story:
This is a popular Japanese TV drama turned movie.
Takuya Kimura played an unconventional prosecutor with strong determination to seek nothing but the truth, and he will get to the bottom of it no matter how hard it is. He has no fear for whoever he is up against, be it big politicians or high-power lawyer. As a result he has an unusually strong inspiring effect on people that he works with and even the criminal that he is prosecuting. People around him will find the extra energy to achieve the goal of seeking the truth. Even the opposing lawyer respects him greatly.
In this movie, he takes over from his colleague, a reckless murder case of what started as a harmless incident of two strangers running into each other. The case become complicated when the defendant is also the sole witness of an alibi of a high-power politician on a corruption charge. Suddenly Kimura finds himself up against the best defending lawyer in town on this murder case. He also has a very bad history with this politician. If Kimura doesn't win his case, it will mean the politician will get away on the corruption case.
My review:
I enjoyed watching this film very much as I have also watched the TV-series before. The determination of the prosecution team to convict the bad guy and give him the punishment that he deserves is quite touching. Splendid performance by Takuya Kimura.
Shall we kiss? Un baiser s'il vous pla?t
Romantic comedy, France 2007
Director: Emmanuel Mouret
Virginie Ledoyen ... Judith
Emmanuel Mouret ... Nicolas
Julie Gayet ... ?milie
Micha?l Cohen ... Gabriel
Fr?d?rique Bel ... Caline
Stefano Accorsi ... Claudio
Story: Emilie was out of her home town and met a stranger Gabriel who gave her a lift. They ended up spending the day together and had dinner together, just when they were going to part and say goodbye for the night, Gabriel tried to kiss her and she resisted. She then tried to explain to Gabriel how something that happened to her friends made her very hesitant in kissing him. She told him the story of her friends - it was about Nicolas and Judith who started off as just very good friends and how a bizarre request of Nicolas has set them onto a dangerous emotional/physical journey, it has something to do with a certain kiss between them ...
My review:
We were given free tickets of this movie at the premier of the Hong Kong international film festival in March 2008. Tickets were provided by French Tourism board to French alumni association of Hong Kong. The director/leading actor Emmanuel Mouret was there too.
A nice and wonderful comedy that makes fun of friendship, love, husband, wife, lovers, kisses and sex. Sounds like all the good ingredients for a romantic comedy. There were no shortage of funny situation and carefully crafted script
Book Club 15 March 2008
9 people turned up (7 in the photos) at our book club gathering and we talked about many things and we talked about 6 books
La sagesse des contes (buy from Amazon) by Alexandro Jodorowsky
The God Delusion (buy from Amazon) by Richard Dawkins
"I think therefore I am" - A collection of short article by a Hong Kong writer - Chan Wan
"Il Decamerone", written by the Italian humanist writer Giovanni Boccaccio almost 650 years ago, Il Decamerone contains a hundred tales supposedly told in ten days. 
Visualizing Boccaccio: Studies on Illustrations of the Decameron, from Giotto to Pasolini (Cambridge Studies in New Art History and Criticism) (buy from Amazon) by Jill M. Ricketts
"All kind of gods in ancient China"
Margin of Safety: Risk-Averse Value Investing Strategies for the Thoughtful Investor (buy from Amazon) by Seth A. Klarman
Amber
Western in Central
Landmark Mandarin Oriental, 15 Queen's Road Central, The Landmark, Central, Hong Kong | T: +852 2132 0188
Very good service and good food just as you would expect from Mandarin Oriental!
There is a private room that can host about 24 people. Their menu changes every 4 months or so.
Nam Fong
Chinese in Cyberport
Address and tel.no
Le Meridien Cyberport, 100 Cyberport Road, Hong Kong
2980 7788
Sushi Kuu
Sushi Kuu, Japanese in Central
1/F, Wellington Place, 2-8 Wellington St, Central, Hong Kong
+852 2971-0180